Book One – Chapter 14

Her gaze shifted to the messenger string coiled at her side. Midnight grasped it tightly, her darkness curling around its length. The string melded into her essence, affixing itself just as the beast wizard sigil ring had before. This string was not the lifeline Yves had entrusted to her; she would never risk its integrity by offering it to a stranger. The string she had handed to the beast wizard was the second messenger string, the one she had found within the ice cavern. Whatever its origin, its purpose had now changed.

If there was ever a moment to move, it was now. T̰́̇ͦ̀è̸̷̸̬̤̗̊_̸̵̰̦̗̒͜ȟ̗̍ͤa̶͉͉͍̭̰̅̀̈͜ͅȓ̶̶̛̦͇͙̟̈̿͒ͮ͑̋̚͡u̟͖͔̖̙͙͆̄̿ͩͧ̃̽̓̈̌̀͟͞n‘s veil had blocked all light, freeing her from the radiant orb that had ever again betrayed her presence and burned against her darkness. Her heightened perception made the world clearer than it had ever been, and she felt no tether to the frozen battlefield. For her entire life, she and Yves had been instructed to stay hidden, to avoid the witching hour’s lightless grasp. But this time felt different. This time felt right. There was nothing keeping her.

Midnight began to move. Stretching herself through the darkness, she left the battlefield behind. The sealed golem, the dead wizard, the weary orichs — her purpose lay not with them. And yet, her mind was anything but silent. The clarity granted by T̰́̇ͦ̀è̸̷̸̬̤̗̊_̸̵̰̦̗̒͜ȟ̗̍ͤa̶͉͉͍̭̰̅̀̈͜ͅȓ̶̶̛̦͇͙̟̈̿͒ͮ͑̋̚͡u̟͖͔̖̙͙͆̄̿ͩͧ̃̽̓̈̌̀͟͞n’s rise lingered like an echo, sharpening every question that captivated her attention. The wizard’s death had not come swiftly. What had driven him to fight so desperately? Had he truly believed the voltera, the golem and the avian beast were worth such sacrifice? And what was the essence she had sensed within the golem itself — the strange, unfamiliar existence woven into its stone and movements?